{"id":13861,"date":"2012-11-01T01:10:58","date_gmt":"2012-11-01T06:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcitement.com\/?p=13861"},"modified":"2012-11-02T06:38:27","modified_gmt":"2012-11-02T11:38:27","slug":"review-does-kyoceras-rise-get-the-worm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/column\/review-column\/review-does-kyoceras-rise-get-the-worm\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Does Kyocera’s Rise Get The Worm?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s be blunt, Kyocera doesn’t have the best reputation as a cellphone maker. Known for making budget phones that feel cheap in the hand, with dated operating systems and limited features, Kyocera is hardly any Techcitement writer’s “go to” company. In fact, we generally consider those phones to be barely a step up from feature phones.<\/p>\n

The Kyocera Rise<\/a>, however, caught our attention despite this bad reputation. For starters, it’s a rarity in that the Rise was released for both Sprint and for Sprint’s no-contract Virgin line at almost the same time. On Sprint, you can get the Rise for free; on Virgin, it will cost you $99. Clearly, this does nothing to assuage the budget rep, but at least initial pricing is reasonable. The other thing that caught our eye was the slider keyboard. Physical keyboards are a deciding factor for many and something that can be implemented brilliantly or poorly. The last two Virgin Mobile phones that we reviewed, the Venture<\/a> and the Optimus Slider<\/a> absolutely bombed. Would the Rise manage to get a handle on that? We didn’t have to wonder that long, because Virgin Mobile sent one our way.<\/p>\n

First Impressions<\/h3>\n

The Rise came in typical, no frills Virgin packaging. I get the branding thing, but it really would be nice to see them shake it up just a tad. Opening the blister pack revealed a phone that was, frankly, dull looking. Oddly, the uninspired styling almost makes the Rise stand out in an era of industrial design. There’s something retro about the grey, block-y physique.<\/p>\n

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Not sure if there’s enough branding on this.<\/p><\/div>\n

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As you can see, the front face sports two large logos, a massive bezel, and four capacitive buttons: back, home, switch apps, and menu. The right side has a dedicated camera button, while the left has the microUSB port and volume rocker. The top of the unit is graced with a headphone jack and the power button.<\/p>\n

Physically, the Rise feels a bit like a toy. The phone’s slick plastic barely avoids being cheap. If you can make it out in the above photo, the screen is a fingerprint magnet.<\/p>\n

Internally, the Rise sports a Qualcomm MSM8655 1.0 GHz processor with\u00a0 a laughable two GB of built-in storage and a microSD slot. The 1500 mAh battery sounds pitiful, but is surprisingly enough to get about six hours of talk time off of the 3G-only Rise. As for the camera — hell, it’s too depressing, so I’ll get back to it later.<\/p>\n

My first impressions of the Rise can be summed up like this: I might pick up a demo unit, but only to put it right back down.<\/p>\n

The Software\/User Interface<\/h3>\n

In what is a fairly pleasant surprise, Kyocera loaded a totally unskinned version of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) on the Rise. Being able to run pure Android is a nice feature for me, as my hate for TouchWiz is well documented at this point. However, I want to add the caveat that I doubt Kyocera will update this phone to 4.1 (Jelly Bean) any time soon.<\/p>\n

Despite the Rise having a processor much slower than what I usually use, Android actually performs fairly well. The lack of any flashy skin probably helps it along, but I found the phone to be responsive and snappy.<\/p>\n

The most important user interface feature here though, is the keyboard, which I get into more in the Performance section.<\/p>\n

Virgin throws on an ICE (In Case of Emergency) app, the usual two Virgin apps, and Sprint ID. That’s very light, and nice to see. Kyocera also adds one more feature: an “Eco Mode” to save power when the battery gets low. This slows the phone down just a bit, in my experience.
\n<\/p>\n

Performance<\/h3>\n

One look at the screen and we’re back to budget-land. With a mere resolution of 320 x 480 pixels on a 3.5 IPS screen, things look faint and washed out at times and plain ugly at others. Seriously, my Palm Pre took far better pictures, and that phone had the same resolution on what is in theory a lower quality display. As your screen is where you’re going to interface with your smartphone the most, this is the wrong area for Kyocera to cheap out. I can’t get a good enough picture to show how bad it is – it would just look like my normal low-quality photographs.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the Rise actually gets better voice and data reception than other Virgin phones I’ve recently used, and that may be it’s saving grace. There are plenty of spots where my EVO dropped down to 2G speeds or lost connectivity altogether, but the Rise kept on trucking. In fact, the Rise even gets reception in one spot that’s a notorious dead zone. Very impressive.<\/p>\n

Not as impressive is battery life. With a weak screen and only 3G, I’d expect a bit more talk time. While the Rise is okay when standing by, actually using the thing drops my battery rapidly. Yes, I have five to six hours of talk time, but the phone is rated for eight.<\/p>\n

I know I’ve said in the past that I’m not a camera person, but the camera on the Rise is depressing on a purely technical level. While other manufacturers are throwing in filters, features, and high-end sensors, Kyocera shoved a 3.2 MP camera in here. Feature-wise, all it has is geotagging and an LED flash. Pictures look about how you would expect, if not worse. We’re talking blurry, no focus, colors off. For some reason, in an age when cell phones are hosting amazing cameras, Kyocera decided to use, essentially, an anti-camera.<\/p>\n

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Frankly, this camera choice by Kyocera baffles me. Are camera expenses that costly? This is absolutely not the phone for even the most casual of shutterbugs.<\/p>\n

But wait, you ask, what of the keyboard? You want to know if Kyocera manages to get right what every other Virgin handset maker has dropped the ball on. By now, you’re expecting it. So far, the Rise has managed to mess up on screen and camera. Except no.<\/p>\n

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A hardware feature that doesn’t suck? Someone must have missed a memo.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

While not as full-featured and impressive as a Droid 4 keyboard or even the older Samsung Epic, the Rise’s four-row keyboard is actually satisfying to use. Keys are well placed, have good travel, and it’s easy to adjust to the layout after a few days. I would say that the Rise arguably has the best keyboard on the Virgin Mobile network, but that’s damning with faint praise.<\/p>\n

Hackability<\/h3>\n

I don’t think I’ve ever come across a custom ROM or root instructions for a Kyocera phone. Apparently, a Sony rooting method works on the Rise<\/a>. As the Rise I reviewed was a loaner review unit, you’ll have to forgive me for not trying to root it. As for ROMs, while only two months old, there’s usually at least some interest in porting Cyanogen. There doesn’t seem to be such an interest this time around.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Strengths<\/h3>\n

The Rise’s ability to work as a phone on Virgin impressed us, in a way we have not been in some time.\u00a0 I’d have to say that Kyocera got the keyboard right, but that’s solely in comparison to the other phones on Virgin, and possibly the HTC Shift on Sprint. I’ve also been using a Motorola Photon Q, which has LTE, a better camera, and an insanely better screen, so a quality physical keyboard can’t stand up to that kind of competition. Don’t let the Rise’s price tempt you to sacrifice, either. The LG Mach is due out 11\/10, has far better specs (including LTE) and is also $99.<\/p>\n

The Weaknesses<\/h3>\n

Where to start? Horrible camera, uninteresting design, a screen I won’t even call passable, and a lack of anything like what I would consider a modern feature. While Virgin may not carry what I would consider “superphones,” this is more of a sub-phone. I can handle pay-as-you-go networks having tech that’s a year behind, but many of the Rise’s features feel two to three years behind the curve. Frankly, if you must buy Virgin, you’re better off with either of their HTC EVOs than this bit of junk and learn to live with an onscreen keyboard.<\/p>\n

Wrap Up<\/h3>\n

The Kyocera Rise<\/a> wishes it could be considered a mixed bag. The great call quality and usable keyboard can’t hide the fact that every other feature feels like an afterthought. Both Sprint and Virgin have much, much better phones.\u00a0As such, I can’t recommend the Rise on Sprint, even if it is free and has a decent keyboard Unless you absolutely must have a keyboard on a no-contract network, this is one Virgin you should leave untouched.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s be blunt, Kyocera doesn’t have the best reputation as a cellphone maker. Known for making budget phones that feel cheap in the hand, with dated operating systems and limited features, Kyocera is hardly any Techcitement writer’s “go to” company. In fact, we generally consider those phones to be barely a step up from feature […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1085,1917],"tags":[34,1175,1936,3223,3224,2486,3459,10,1874],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13861"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13861"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13867,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13861\/revisions\/13867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}